Hello Sister Mary Francis,
I am glad you are raising the question about adding ‘notes of Thanksgiving ‘ for answers to our prayers of petition- and perhaps also for God’s other blessings, large and small in the midst of a chaotic world.

I am reminded of the psalms and petitions and lamentations - that end with gratitude to God. Gratitude I believe is essential for Benedictine balance.

I am not known for my brevity and don’t have a good option to offer for how to add thanks without lengthening the prayer list.  It may be worth considering consolidating the intro list of Church leadership (as a category) and then of CSL leadership (without the use of specific names?)… And merging the list of those in formation / discernment but listing specific names?

Have a good week, too, sister!
Peace,
Sr Julian

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jun 1, 2024, at 12:16 PM, Sister Mary Francis <chrpubs@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Dear Abbess, Brothers and Sisters,
> Greetings to all! I learned a new lesson this week in "my how things have changed". When I graduated from High School, we felt blessed if we had a skate party at the end of the year. My great granddaughter just graduated from the 8th grade and the school trip was a week in New York and Washington D.C.  Seems a little overkill, but MacKenna and her daddy (a parent chaperone) had a blast. They took a boat ride around the Statue of Liberty and sent me pictures from/of St. Patrick's Cathedral.  They toured the Capitol in D.C., so all in all, MacKenna learned lots about people and our country. I doubt this graduation trip will ever be topped for either of them.
>
> Please say a prayer of thanksgiving: Margaret Justus has been successfully treated for breast cancer. I removed her from our prayer list since we do not have a thanksgiving section to list answered prayer. Adding such would lengthen the prayer list, and yet giving thanks for answered prayer seems an important part of our prayer ministry. Any thoughts?
>
> The prayer list is attached. Have a good week.
> Sister Mary Francis Deulen, OSB
>